Holding Court
by ladidai
Summary: It made him happy to see Quinn finally laughing with the rest of the group, if only for that night. Superseded by Fate Without Destiny


Mike sat down in the seat that Quinn gestured towards and wondered how the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

This was the first time that he'd seen Quinn outside of work since he started his new job which happened to also be where Quinn was now working.

Funny thing was, he never imagined her to be working for some lobbying firm on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Although, the more he thought about it the more it made sense, since she had almost always gotten her way back in high school. Aside from Finn and Puck, then Sam, then Finn again, and Beth of course. Okay, so maybe she didn't always get her way back in high school, but she was still beautiful and charming and that went a long way in an industry which was mostly populated by slimy middle-aged men.

Funnier thing was, he never imagined himself to be working for some lobbying firm on Capitol Hill in the Nation's capital. He always dreamed of being a professional dancer, but four years of Harvard had changed that. The love of dance would always be in him but things had changed, real life had gotten in the way, and he had to face the reality that his dream wouldn't be coming true. Still, he was doing something he was good at and it paid quite a bit of money so things hadn't turned out too badly for him.

He didn't know if he could say the same thing about Quinn though. She seemed happy enough at work, but she didn't really talk with anyone there. It seemed like he was the person she talked to the most, which really wasn't that much, and he had only been there for a week. Plus, they hadn't seen or heard from each other for almost a decade, so it was kinda weird that he instantly became her best work friend.

That still didn't explain why she asked him to come have dinner with her and some friends. There were two other guys at the table with their girlfriends and two single women, Quinn included, making for an awkward number of seven sitting at the round table of some upscale restaurant in downtown DC. Quinn and her friends were apparently regulars here which meant that the service was great and the chef was always giving them small plates on the house.

Every time one of those small plates, and there were a lot, came out from the kitchen and their waiter described it, Mike could feel the eyes of the people around them staring at their table. All this time later and Quinn was still head of the group that everyone wanted to be a part of.

It was almost like he was back in high school and Quinn was head Cheerio. In fact, it was just like they were back at McKinley. Quinn would be on the top row of the stands with Santana and Brittany on the row just below her and the rest of the Cheerios in whatever pecking order they were supposed to be in that day. He knows this because he saw it play out every day during football practice when the Cheerios would plant themselves on the stands to watch.

Like then, Quinn wasn't very talkative at the table. She generally listened to everyone else talk and occasionally made a comment here or there. The strangest thing was that she could immediately change the subject or flow of whatever everyone else was talking about with a single sentence and everyone else would follow her lead. It kind of freaked him out at how easily she did it, like she didn't even know she was doing it. Or maybe she knew exactly what she was doing.

He just couldn't decide which was worse: choosing to be that way meant she was choosing to be alone; not choosing it, meant she just didn't know how to be part of the group. In either case, it made him feel sorry for her because a leader could never really be part of the group.

"Mike, you okay?" Quinn asked quietly as she leaned over closer to him. "You've been pretty quiet."

"Yea, I just— little tired from the first week you know?"

Quinn smiled softly. "We can leave if you want."

"No, I'm good." He smiled back. "And you know I've never talked that much."

Quinn tilted her head back and laughed and Mike was sure it was the first time tonight that she did it because he definitely would've remembered a laugh like that, even if they were the loudest table in the restaurant.

"Hey, what're you two up to over there?" one of Quinn's friends asked, John if he remembered correctly.

"Nothing," they said at the same time, causing them to look at each other then laugh.

"I get it," John said. "Reminiscing about your high school days without us."

"No," Quinn said. "We weren't reminiscing."

"Well, you should be," one of the females said.

Someone else chimed in, "Yea, tell us a story from your high school glory days."

"Oh my god," Quinn said as she planted her face in the palm of her left hand and shook her head. "We are not doing this."

Mike grinned. "A story huh? Did Quinn ever tell you about—"

"Mike Chang," Quinn said as her head shot up. "Don't you dare."

He dared and it made him happy to see Quinn finally laughing with the rest of the group, if only for that night.

* * *

><p>This may or may not be the basis for the Fabang fic I may or may not write after I finish LiL.<p> 


End file.
